Certain urban public transport vehicles are guided by a guide rail whose upper surface is flush with, or stands slightly above ground level.
Classically, this guide rail is positioned in a channel hollowed out of the ground and filled with concrete, in which it rests on its support base and in which it is held by intermediate fixing means distributed regularly along the channel.
The space between the concrete and the sides of the guide rail can then be filled in with a filler material which leaves free linear spaces known as grooves as needed to allow the passage of the flange of the guide wheel(s).
According to a previous invention by the present applicant, this filler material is preferably a synthetic resin cast in place on the spot at the time when the guide rail is being positioned. It has compressibility properties which enable it to ensure the clearing, pressing down or incrustation of objects that can make their way into the guide groove.
Indeed, by virtue of its exposure to the elements and the surroundings, it often happens that the groove is obstructed by all kinds of objects, in particular for example debris, plants, ice, snow, pebbles or other foreign bodies or objects deposited by accident or deliberately, and which can constitute an obstacle to the passage of guide wheels with flanges and may lead to damage of the wheels, or which create a risk that the guiding assembly of the vehicle, or more seriously the vehicle itself, is derailed.
By virtue of its adapted compressibility properties this filler material enables the ejection, pressing down, or incrustation of objects during the passage of the guide wheel(s), thereby allowing the guide wheels to pass over in safety.
Since the guide groove has to remain clear, and owing to the presence of the support base, the layer of filler material is not very thick at that level. Although it may be sufficient to allow objects of small size to be pressed down, larger objects can continue to protrude and interfere with the guiding of the vehicle.
Moreover, whereas this filling with a filler material plays an important part for the function of guiding correctly, producing it is not an easy operation and often poses problems.
In fact, according to the prior art the resin is made and cast at the worksite. Thus, its composition is not totally controlled and can vary due to component metering errors but also due to weather and climate conditions.
Applying it by casting all along the rail while preserving a precise geometry is already, in itself, a difficult operation which is made even more problematic because it takes place in the open and therefore with variable parameters such as different weather conditions at the time, for example rain, cold or great heat, and other conditions such as sloping ground, which can complicate the casting of the filler material.
Such a situation can result in harmful defects or even ones that are dangerous for the use of the vehicle.